GDP estimated for US territories for 1st time

HONOLULU 
The federal government has released the first set of estimates of gross domestic product for American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Department of Interior said Wednesday in a Washington news release that until now an official framework had not existed for estimating the GDP of the four areas and for objectively gauging changes in economic activity.

The estimates show real GDP grew from 2002 to 2007 in each of the territories except the Northern Marianas, where it fell an average annual rate of 4.2 percent.

GDP grew at a rate of 0.4 percent in American Samoa, 1.8 percent on Guam and 2.9 percent in the Virgin Islands. By comparison, the GDP for the U.S. grew at a rate of 2.8 percent during the same period.